Montgomery County State Representative Rick Taylor says natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale of Northern and Central Pennsylvania will be good for the economy, but the state must address a number of environmental concerns. “There will be an impact, from water usage to how you treat the water used in a process called fracking to a bunch of other things, like in one county they had a blowout of a well for 16 hours or something along that line. How do you treat these issues?”

Taylor says he’s excited about businesses and private landowners working together on natural gas extraction, but he does not support additional leases for drillers in state forests because they are important natural resources. Bucks County State Representative Paul Clymer says the positive impact on the economy is already clear.

“In talking to legislators who are in those areas where they’re already drilling, they have told me that they’re hiring local people, the restaurants are full, the motels are full and businesses are starting up, so it is impacting very positively, and this is the California Gold Rush coming to Pennsylvania.”

Clymer says he is confident that state and federal regulators will find solutions to the environmental issues. He and Taylor appeared Tuesday on the WNPV talk program Comment Please by Univest.